The present invention relates to exercise equipment in general, and more particularly to a power training arrangement of the type provided with a driving motor which drives, via a transmission, a moving element which is connected with a gripping member.
For the training of athletes and the rehabilitation of handicapped or incapacitated persons, there are already known various constructions or power training arrangements, in which a moving element is driven by a motor. In such an arrangement, the moving element is provided with a gripping portion or member, which can be engaged by the hand or by the foot of the user of the arrangement, in order to slow down or stop the movement of the moving element. In many instances, the moving element is driven via a crank mechanism, so that it moves at a constant speed of the motor with different velocities at different times, and also the power transmission ratio varies in time. However, such known power training arrangements have the drawback that the individual phases of a movement cycle take different amounts of time, so that the user must adjust himself or herself to the time-varying velocity of movement of the moving element. Moreover, only movements of less than 180.degree. can be performed by the moving element of the power training arrangement, so that an optimum training over the entire movement range (for instance, crossing of arms) is not possible.
Other known power training arrangements are provided with weights which are to be lifted by the user via a transmission mechanism in the various recommended or required ways, or springs which are to be tensioned. Power training arrangements of this variety render it possible, as a rule, to achieve muscle loading only in one direction, while muscle loading in the opposite direction cannot be exercised. At the very least, a fully effective training during a "negative" phase of movement is not possible, since the weight or the loading remains the same, whereas the muscle exerts up to two times the original force during the negative phase. Herein, the term "negative" as applied to phase of movement or to movement means an attempt at maintaining a muscle contraction against a load or a weight.
Thus, it may be seen that the heretofore proposed power training arrangements leave much to be desired in terms of structure but especially in the way in which they can be used to train or rehabilitate the users of such arrangements. Moreover, such known arrangements, more often than not, are rather expensive.